FEATURE-Soccer scandal shows darker side of regimented Singapore

SINGAPORE Feb 8 Singapore has long cultivated a
reputation as a clean, safe and regimented place to live and do
business in a turbulent region, but the apparently major role of
Singaporeans in a global soccer match-fixing scandal shows a
seamy underside often out of view.

The soccer scam, graft cases against high-level officials
and revelations that some bank traders colluded to manipulate
currency rates run contrary to the image of an orderly society,
well-swept streets and manicured greenery in a place dubbed
"Disneyland with the death penalty" by writer William Gibson.

There was no particular reason for match-fixers to be based
in Singapore, other than some of the suspects happened to live
in the wealthy city-state, said Shashi Nathan, a leading
criminal lawyer, noting that the syndicates worked in private
and across borders using mobile phones and computers.

"I'm on the one hand surprised that this has come out of
Singapore. On the other hand, even with its heavy regulation, we
have to keep in mind that the nature of the offence is very,
very hard to detect," said Nathan, a director at INCA Law LLC.

"The mistake people make is, because Singapore is so clean
and regulated, there's no crime. If so, I'd be out of a job."

Singapore - a major financial centre whose long-ruling
government favours an investor-friendly, technocratic approach -
is ranked the fifth least-corrupt country in the world by
Transparency International and regularly tops global lists for
the ease of doing business.

Murders are rare, gun crime is nearly non-existent and drug
possession of any kind is a serious offence leading to jail time
and sometimes lashings with a rattan cane. Drug traffickers face
the death penalty by hanging.

But Singapore still has its share of scandal and vice.

An opposition party won a by-election last month after the
speaker of parliament quit over an extramarital affair, one of
several recent embarrassments for the government.

Others include the arrest of the civil defence chief and the
head of the police anti-drug unit on corruption charges last
year after the men allegedly had sexual relations with female
employees of vendors in exchange for help in influencing the
awarding of government contracts.

SEX, SOCCER AND VANDALISM

In the Geylang district, licensed prostitutes from China,
Thailand and other Asian countries work in brothels that are
technically illegal but obvious in their purpose with red lights
and flashing signs.

An unlicensed and illegal sex trade is rampant in doorways
and on street corners elsewhere in Geylang, at the notorious
Orchard Towers complex known as "Four Floors of Whores" on one
of Singapore's glitziest shopping streets, in numerous massage
parlours and in explicit online ads.

Gambling is legal at two casino resorts that opened in 2010,
at horse races and on soccer matches at state-run outlets but
loan-sharking is a problem and, as the global soccer scandal
shows, match-fixing has deep roots in Singapore.

Investigators in Europe said this week they suspected a
criminal syndicate in Singapore was at the heart of a bribery
scam to affect the outcomes of hundreds of matches at the club
and national level over several years.

Authorities have stressed they are cooperating with the
Europeans and take the problem of match-fixing seriously but
have been tight-lipped about the details and extent of their
investigation.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said "stern
action has been taken" in eight match-fixing cases it has
investigated since 2005, including the jailing last year of two
South Koreans who used to play in Singapore's S-league.

"In all, 11 individuals were charged and convicted in
court," the anti-corruption bureau said on Thursday.

"One prominent case in 2007 involved the Liaoning Guangyuan
Football Club ... where the footballers were found guilty of
having received bribes from the general manager of the club to
influence the result of the matches. All involved players were
eventually charged and dealt with."

In sentencing a mainland Chinese player in the Liaoning
Guangyuan case to seven months in jail, the judge warned of the
dangers to Singapore from match-fixing.

"Soccer is a sport with a wide following," District Judge
Toh Yung Cheong wrote in February 2008. "Offences of this nature
have attracted much public attention lately. If left unchecked,
they are capable of tarnishing the image of Singapore."

The dangers are real for Zaihan Mohamed Yusof, who has
reported extensively on match-fixing for The New Paper tabloid.
He is concerned for his safety after his car was vandalised four
times and over some "strange sightings of people" at his door.

"The vandalism only started when we announced Singapore was
a hub for match-fixing in about May 2011," he said. "It could be
coincidental. It could be kids. But other neighbours have not
had cars vandalised, just me."
(Additional reporting by Rachel Armstrong and Paul Carsten;
Editing by Nick Macfie)